Victory was made possible by aggressive batting, as promised by captain Angelo Mathews. The personnel who did that were Kusal Mendis (89) and Danushka Gunathilaka (76), who wasn’t even in the squad until an injury to Chamara Kapugedera on the eve of the game.

But it all changed quickly when when Gunathilaka pulled Umesh into the stands at the beginning of the eighth, signalling a shift in fortunes. Gunathilaka took charge with some glorious drives, particularly down the ground, while Mendis too started confidently, shifting the pressure on to India gradually.

But a good beginning is not even a job half done, as Sri Lanka found out the hard way against South Africa. The middle-overs batting was the most crucial phase of the chase, and how Sri Lanka handled Ravindra Jadeja was in particular important, given that it had crumbled against ’s leg-spin.

Mendis took that task upon himself and dismantled the left-arm spinner’s threat with smart batting. With only four fielders allowed inside the ring, Mendis targeted the mid-wicket boundary to perfection, getting past fifty with one such massive swipe into the crowd.

Jadeja conceded 36 from four overs, the partnership crossed 150, and India’s shoulders began to drop. It didn’t help that Rohit Sharma could not hold on to a very tough chance in the deep when Gunathilaka was on 70.

India’s desperation was evident when Kedhar Jadhav and Virat Kohli came on to bowl, but the breakthroughs came via run outs.

Chasing an unlikely 405 for victory, England were bowled out 20 minutes after lunch for 158 as India grabbed a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, after the first Test was drawn.

Skipper Virat Kohli led from the front to bring up the team’s second biggest win against England by runs, after they won by 279 runs at Leeds 30 years ago.

Kohli’s sparkling 167 and his 226-run third-wicket stand with Cheteshwar Pujara (119) in the first innings was instrumental in the hosts posting 455 after batting first.

The star batsman also hit a gritty 81 in the second innings to underline India’s dominance over the visitors.

“We’ve been playing some really good cricket, we don’t want to be complacent but don’t want to be desperate, either. We respect England,” said Kohli, who was named man of the match.

Ashwin, the leading Test wicket-taker this year, once again turned on the heat against the English batsmen who resumed their chase at 87 for two but lost their last eight wickets for just 71 runs.

The off-spinner, who picked up his 22nd five-wicket haul in the first innings, captured the first scalp of the day by having Ben Duckett caught behind for nought, ending the batsman’s brief, 16-ball stay at the crease.

Ashwin and debutant Jayant Yadav finished with three wickets each in England’s second innings, while fast bowler Mohammed Shami chipped in with two.

“The biggest positives are how the fast bowlers bowled and Jayant’s debut. It was lovely to have five bowlers who can pick up wickets,” said Kohli.

The morning session saw England lose Moeen Ali who looped up a simple catch to fine leg off leg-spinner Ravindra Jadeja for just two runs.

Off-spinner Yadav got the important wicket of Ben Stokes, top-scorer with 70 in England’s first innings, for six.

Joe Root, who was dropped on nine by Kohli at leg slip off Ashwin, provided some resistance until fast bowler Mohammed Shami had him lbw for 25.

Root reviewed the decision but TV replays suggested the ball would have hit the leg stump, upholding the on-field call.

The hosts had reclaimed the advantage on the fourth day after Jadeja trapped England skipper Alastair Cook lbw for 54 on what turned out to be the last ball of the day.

“It was a good toss to win (for India), no doubt. From losing those five wickets on day two – you have to score first-innings runs,” said Cook.

After conceding a 200-run deficit in the first innings, England will take heart from their spirited bowling second time around.

Fast bowler Stuart Broad, who played with a strained tendon on his right foot from day two, and leg-spinner Adil Rashid fought valiantly by claiming four wickets each to dismiss India for 204.

“We made India work very hard. We played some good cricket at stages in these first two games. We need to win a couple of games to get ourselves back in the series,” said Cook.

Williamson, who came to the crease after the early wicket of Martin Guptill, put on a 117-run second wicket partnership with Tom Latham to make major inroads into India’s first innings total of 318.

At stumps, New Zealand had reduced the deficit to 166 runs, with Williamson unbeaten on 65 and Latham also well set on 56 when rain stopped play after tea to wash out the final session of play. The batting duo tackled the Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with aplomb as they used their feet and the sweep shot to great effect at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium.

“We are confronted by two very good spinners who know the conditions well and are going to challenge you at different times,” New Zealand’s batting coach Craig McMillan told reporters.

“Both guys soaked that (constant appealing) up really nicely throughout that partnership and whenever they got a scoring opportunity they made the most of it. “That is one of the keys, you don’t allow Ashwin or Jadeja to bowl 12 or 15

balls at one person. You have to find a way a way to get down the other end and both those guys did that really nicely today.” Williamson survived a scare when a Ashwin ball hit the back of his helmet.

The back flaps which provide extra support to the skull fell onto his stumps, but didn’t dislodge the bails.

Latham also rode his luck after Jadeja got the left-handed batsman caught at short leg, but replays showed the ball hitting the helmet grille of fielder Lokesh Rahul.

The decision was referred to the third umpire who gave Latham not out as according to the rules, external protective gear cannot come into play while taking a catch.

The duo got to their respective fifties soon after, although off-spinner Ashwin and left-arm spinner Jadeja continued to trouble the batsmen.

Despite Rohit’s poor form in the Tests, he has the confidence of captain Virat Kohli, who feels that the ODI specialist should be given a longer run to prove himself in the Test format.

The star Mumbai batsman, who holds the world record for the highest score in ODIs, could never settle down in the longest format during his delayed 18-Test career that began with a bang — with back-to-back tons against the West Indies in 2013 in India.

Considered to be a batsman with a wide range of strokes, Rohit has been in and out of the playing XI since then with consistency not his forte in Tests.

In the recent series against the West Indies in the Caribbean, he got a chance to play in two out of four games, one of which was washed out, and he mustered 9 and 41 in the two innings in the third Test at Gros Islet.

How much patience will the selectors continue to have on the talented but under-performing 29-year-old batsman at the Test level is a matter of conjecture.

Rohit also did not do well in the first innings of the ongoing Duleep Trophy final in Greater Noida after being specifically included in one of the teams — India Blue — following his return from the West Indies and the USA.

He made just 30 runs yesterday before throwing his wicket away.

With quite a few talented youngsters like Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair waiting in the wings, the selectors will have a tough task at hands.

Another top-order batsman who has come under the scanner is Cheteshwar Pujara. He was dropped for the final Test against the West Indies, along with successful opener in past Test rubbers — Murali Vijay –, by the tour management.

Pujara grafted his way to 62 runs from two innings, but has since then answered the selectors’ queries with back-to-back hundreds in the Duleep Trophy and is likely to be included in the squad which, more or less, should be the same that toured the West Indies and won the series 2-0.

Ravindra Jadeja is another player who has been asked to play in the Duleep Trophy after getting just one game in the West Indies, in which he scored 22 runs and picked up three wickets at Gros Islet. He was dropped for the fourth and final Port of Spain game, which got washed out.

It could be a toss-up between him, Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who has grabbed 13 wickets in two games for India Red in the ongoing Duleep Trophy, and orthodox leggie Amit Mishra.

Mishra played in two out of four Tests in the West Indies, for grabbing two out of three spinners’ slots in the squad to support premier slow bowler Ravichandran

Mohammed Shami, the only Indian bowler to take more than 10 wickets against the Windies other than Ashwin, looks a certainty to spearhead the pace attack along with Ishant Sharma — the most experienced bowler in this lot.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur were the others who completed the pace quintet in the West Indies. But with the series being held in sub continent conditions, it looks unlikely that all of them will be a part of the squad.

As India have a lengthy spell of Test cricket, 13 games in all till the visit by the Australians in February-March, 2017, the selectors may also decide to go in for rotating the fast bowling resources.

A call-up for someone like Varun Aaron, now touring Australia with the India ‘A’ squad, does not appear far-fetched at some stage of the season.

And the disappointed Indian skipper MS Dhoni, in his post-match conference, time and again highlighted the difference dew made during India’s 7-wicket loss to the Caribbean side, saying that the conditions in the second innings made it impossible for him to rely on his spinners.

“It was a bad toss to lose. The first few overs when they started batting were fine, but after that there was a considerable amount of dew which meant the spinners couldn’t bowl how they would have liked to. It was coming on nicely and the ball was getting wet, so that was the difference between the first innings and second innings.

“The surface had some assistance for the spinners, it was gripping but in the second innings there wasn’t much in it for them.. Once the dew comes in, it becomes difficult for them to turn the ball. The seam gets wet and the surface becomes a bit greasy, so it comes onto the bat nicely. I feel we have seen that our spinners do struggle in conditions like these,” Dhoni said, acknowledging the difference an early start made to the all-important game.

Ashwin has been, for the longest time, Dhoni’s go-to man and the captain summoned him as soon as he could spread the field. However, his two-over spell cost India 20 runs and the offspinner was taken off the attack. Asked whether he was saving him for bowling in death, Dhoni said assessing the game situation, he wasn’t planning to re-introduce Ashwin.

“No, it was not on my mind looking at [Andre] Russell and the big hitters, and the amount of purchase there was on offer. That was not the best time for him to bowl. When the wicket is turning I like to take that gamble of keeping a few overs of the spinner so that if needed, I can make him bowl, but if not, I’ll waste that one over.”

India, who have already sealed the series with wins in the first and third Tests, had bowled out the top-ranked tourists for 121 after making 334 for a first-innings lead of 213 runs.
Kohli’s stand with Rahane, who top-scored with 127 in his first outing, was the first century-stand of what had been a low-scoring series so far.
With the Kotla pitch likely to deteriorate on the fourth and fifth days, it will be an uphill task for the Proteas to breach India’s run wall.

The visitors have been bowled out under 200 five times out of six innings in the series.
“The way we batted in the first innings has put us in a good position,” said Ravindra Jadeja, who took a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
“They could not bat well in the first innings and we got a big margin of 213 runs. This made the big difference.”
Paceman Morne Morkel was the most impressive bowler on show, taking three wickets while giving away just 29 runs from 17 overs.
CHIEF SCORE
India 334 and 190 for 4 (Kohli 83*, Rahane 52*, Morkel 3-29)
South Africa 121

India lead the four-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Mohali inside three days before rain washed out the last four days of the drawn second match in Bangalore.

With another dry, spin-friendly pitch laid at the VCA stadium on the outskirts of Nagpur, the top-ranked Proteas are in real danger of losing their nine-year unbeaten series record on foreign soil.

South African captain Hashim Amla confirmed that Steyn will not take field, saying his premier fast bowler had not recovered from the groin strain he suffered in Mohali.

“Not having Dale in the team is a setback because not having the services of the best bowler in the world is never a nice thing,” he said. “But we have got to deal with it and, hopefully, the guys who play will get a chance to stand out.”

When South Africa played a Test in Nagpur in 2010, Steyn picked up a 10-wicket haul, including a career-best 7-57 in the first innings, to fashion his team’s emphatic win by an innings and six runs.

Indian captain Virat Kohli, however, insisted Steyn’s absence will not make a difference to his team’s prospects.

“We have faced him enough times in the past and we have scored enough runs against him,” he said. “We treat every bowler the same way. Someone else might step up, so you can’t take anyone lightly.”

“Hopefully runs will come” -Amla’s own poor form with the bat will worry the tourists after he made 43 and 0 in the first Test and seven in the rain-ruined second game in Bangalore.

“I definitely would have liked to have got more runs in the series,” said Amla, who hit an unbeaten 253, the second highest of his 23 three-figure knocks in Test cricket, in Nagpur five years ago.

“Hopefully, the runs are still to come. We have got two big Test matches to deal with.”

South Africa have been let down so far by their inability to cope with India’s spin twins, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who have equally shared 24 of the 30 wickets to fall in three innings so far.

“We have not played our best cricket,” Amla said as the tourists limped to 184 and 109 in Mohali and made 214 on the first day at Bangalore.

– “Not pleasant to face our spinners” -Kohli said he was relieved at not having to face his own spinners, Ashwin, Jadeja and Amit Mishra, who have wreaked havoc with the South African batting.

“If I was playing against them, I would find it really difficult to score off them,” he said. “I am sure it is not pleasant facing the three of them.”

Kohli insisted too much was being made of the dry, brown pitch that will aid spin as the match goes on.

“I don’t know why there is so much of hue and cry about wickets in India,” he said. “We have absolutely no problem in playing on wickets given to us.”

Amla, asked about the pitch, said: “It looks like a good cricket wicket, one that we kind of expect in the sub-continent.”

The South African captain said his team’s dream of winning the series was not over yet, but they still needed to win at Nagpur to set up the decider in Delhi from December 3.

“It is a must-win game for us if we are to win the series,” he said. “The issue has been more with the lack of runs than the lack of wickets. Hopefully, we’ll get the runs too.”

AFP